Now summer is in full flow, we can now expect to see butterflies all over our gardens and meadows (hopefully). 

Now a lot of you may not realise the absolute MACHINES some species of butterfly are. Some migrate distances of thousands of miles. Take the Painted Lady for example, they complete an astounding 9000 mile round trip each year from Africa to the Arctic Circle (York University) and yet receive much less attention than the Monarch Butterfly in America and are a common sight around the UK. 

---

So here I am going to show you how to make a super quick and easy feeder for butterflies!

---

What You’ll Need:

• Shoe Box Lid
• Knife
• Scissors
• Garden Twine
• Over ripe fruit – I used banana, orange and lemon, but you can use others too.
• Somewhere to hang it from.

Step One.

Take your shoebox lid and turn it upside down so it becomes a dish. With a knife, pierce two holes on each short side of the lid.

Step Two.

Measure two lengths of of garden twine and cut to size (this will depend on where you want to hang it.). 

Using the knife or a cocktail stick (please be careful!), push the twine through the hole and tightly knot to secure in place.

Do this on both sider of the lid.

Don’t worry if you make the twine too long, you can always shorten it by knotting it further at the top, it won’t matter.  

Step Three.

Cut off the excess twine on the ‘tray’ of the lid.

If you want, you can also knot the top to make it more secure when you hang it up.

Step Four.

Chop up fruits such as oranges, banana and lemon.

You could also use strawberries, cherries, grapes etc. Anything with juice and sugar will attract butterflies and other pollinators to your feeder.

Step Five.

Voila! Hang up in a suitable spot, preferably somewhere sunny and near other forms of food for insects.

Perhaps keep away from an open window if you don’t want to get flies and wasps indoors!

Replace food when needed. 

---

Charlotte

xoxo